CELEBRITY
Oh what a sensational miss! Ronaldo had wanted partnership with Messi at Man City
Cristiano Ronaldo was interested in striking up a sensational partnership with Lionel Messi before agreeing on a transfer with Manchester City.
The UK Mirror reports that the Portugal international looks set to sign for the Citizens within the next few days following a chat with Pep Guardiola and the agreement of a deal in principle.
Man City had prioritised signing Harry Kane this month but failed to agree on a price with Tottenham for the striker and quickly turned their attention to the Juventus forward.
Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes flew to Turin on Thursday to thrash out a deal for his client, and now all there is left to complete is a fee agreed upon by the two clubs.
Man City would rather not pay a fee for Ronaldo, and have reportedly suggested swapping Raheem Sterling for the frontman.
Juventus would rather receive a transfer fee of around £25million for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, although are interested in Man City forward Gabriel Jesus. Guardiola, however, is reluctant to part company with the Brazilian.
According to UK’s The Independent, the shock transfer wasn’t always on the cards as Ronaldo initially enquired about joining Paris Saint-Germain from Juventus.
It has been claimed that the idea of linking up with Messi appealed to the 36-year-old, following the Argentine’s shock move from Barcelona earlier this month.
But PSG, who have already broken the bank to pay Messi’s wages, were reluctant to splash more cash to bring Ronaldo to Paris
This led to Ronaldo considering other options, with Man City the only English club ready to bring him back to the Premier League.
PSG, meanwhile, are in the process of trying to fend off Real Madrid from signing Kylian Mbappe.
Los Blancos have made two bids for the World Cup winner, with the first, believed to have been around £140million, being outright rejected by the Ligue 1 giants.
Real have returned with an improved bid of £145million.
Mbappe has one year left on his PSG contract with no plans to renew, meaning the onus is on the French club to sell this month to ensure they make a transfer fee for the forward.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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